Bobby Tufts, 5-year-old mayor, loses re-election in Minnesota

Bobby’s platform focused on re-organizing the food pyramid — with ice cream at the top

Bobby Tufts lost his re-election bid in Minnesota Sunday to a 16-year-old candidate. Bobby’s platform focused on re-organizing the food pyramid — with ice cream at the top

Published on Mon Aug 04 2014

DORSET, MINN.—A 5-year-old boy’s run as mayor is over in a tiny tourist town in northern Minnesota.

Robert “Bobby” Tufts lost his bid for a third consecutive term as mayor of Dorset on Sunday. Sixteen-year-old Eric Mueller of Mendota Heights, Minn., won when his name was drawn from the ballot box during the annual Taste of Dorset festival.

Every year the town draws a name during its Taste of Dorset Festival, and the winner gets to be mayor. Anyone can vote as many times as they like — for $1 a vote — at any of the ballot boxes in stores around town.

Bobby was running for a second term, and as mayor he got to draw the winning name on Monday, so there was a good chance he could draw his own name.

Instead, Eric Mueller’s name was drawn. Eric was prompted to run after eating five fried ice creams at one sitting. He’ll be a high school junior this fall.

Bobby was only 3 when he was first elected mayor in 2013. Dorset, about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, has no formal city government and a population ranging from nine to 28.

One of Bobby’s major acts was to declare ice cream top of the food pyramid.